Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

[DavidMarrio]

I hate Diving on it lol. One of the worst moments in my Pro Evo 2008 life was when my mate dived won a penalty 90th minute and scored to win...wasn't very happy at that moment in time as you'd expect. Another was when the computer dived against me bloody Robin Van Persie and than scored a whopper of a freekick cause of it.

Does anyone have any idea if a Demo will be coming out soon what with the game being released in 3 weeks time?

[Dingle]

I really like the drag-back nutmeg trick though, did it to a goalie today it was so fun:)

Hmm? Holding off and then just turning?

[The Future]

Press R2 and then back to pull it back then push it forward again and if it works you are going to put it through the opposing players legs and go around him, a horrible risk to take in defense or close to your box but fun to diss others when you are leading.

[DavidMarrio]

I always used to have one of my mates who always thought he could beat me but was absolutely horrendous. All i know is he's beaten me twice one of those being on pens.

The ole routine of doing like few step overs to wind him up, When he went to tackle knock it forward, feint shot to have his defenders off, slide across goal mouth, smash into the net. Never got tiring.

Yeah my mate always used to do the drag back trick and it'd annoy me as i'd always forget how to do it so just started to go heavy footed whenever he done it and just get on the attack lol

[Colly]

Slightly off topic, but because I only got my PS3 around April I decided to wait for this Pro Evo since I'd already bought 08 for the PS2. However since I had a few mates round last night we decided to try my brothers PS3 version that I hadn't played since the week it came out, thinking that it played like a big pile of poo, but we decided to give it another go since they'd done all the patching and whatnot. So I put it in and obviously I had to download all the update bits. In the meantime we thought we may as well play the PS2 version while we were waiting. After 2 enjoyable 2 on 2 games we finally got the PS3 on, played one game feeling like the players were jogging through treacle and watching every shot stop and start twice en route to goal (even on the replays), got motion sickness, then went back to the PS2. By comparison, its the single greatest game ever made.

I really hope this one will actually be playable...

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Again, I've never had a single judding, slow-down induced moment in my many hours of playing Pro Evo 08 on PS3 either multiplayer or on my own (I'm not including online as NO-ONE can defend the shoddy nature of that).

I haven't installed the game though. I've heard that actually installing it leads to all the problems. I just play it off the disc.

[King Ellis]

Demo this thursday on XBLM and, presumably, PSN.

[Baddar]

PC demo is available now. I know of one guy who has played it, and loves it.

Roll on tomorrow.

[Anderson]

Can't wait for Pro Evo this year, especially as United'll have official kits and stuff.

[Colly]

That downloads going to take aaaaaaages tomorrow if you lot don't stop publicising it!

[Dingle]

Cause people only know of Pro Evo through EWB ¬_¬.

[Dan]

It's quite fun, the improvement from last year is evident although it's not a massive step-up.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Already downloaded, took around 15 mins tops.

Now to find a spare few hours to lose myself in it >_>

[Baddar]

Just to confirm, the PS3 demo is up on PSN Store. I'm at 24%.

Will report back later with my mini-review.

EDIT: Now at 96%

Edited October 2, 2008 by baddarboy

[Baddar]

Impressions after playing two games as Man Utd vs. Real Madrid, on Top Player;

I'll start off with...

The Bad

-It seems as though you can still pass around your defence at will for as long as you like. You're definitely closed down quicker by the forward, but there's nothing stopping you passing it to the next player and repeating the process. One note though is that I was playing as United, so it might be even harder as a smaller team. Again, the closing down has improved on it, but it could still be better.

-As I found out in game two, the AI still scores wonderful free-kicks with the keeper seemingly diving far enough to save it, but not bothering to put his arm out. This has only happened once (the only goal I've seen so far) so hopefully it's not something that happens too often, as it did in 08.

-Players are still given yellow cards for perfect tackles. It wouldn't be so bad if FK's were given on occasion when you win the ball. That's fair enough. But the ref tends to pull out a card even when you've won it cleanly. What's more, when tackles fly in that you think warrant a booking, only a FK is awarded. Obviously, this could depend on what referee was in charge, as PES have used referees with different tolerance levels, rather than them all being the same.

-Old squads. Saha is still at United along with Campbell. No Berbatov either. Hopefully, that'll be sorted for the proper game release.

And now...

The Good

-Slower gameplay, but everyone who read the reviews knew that.

-Graphics are a lot smoother. See above.

-If you build an attack and hit a shot wide of the post, there's no rush in pressing start to view the replay. You can view the replay of the previous chance even after the animation for the keeper to take the goal kick has loaded.

-Pitch is a lot bigger. It might seem at first like you've got a lot more space so that it's even easier to exploit the AI than in 08. Well, that's wrong. The closing down from the AI is excellent in midfield. And you can no longer burn past a player on the wing with ease. The WB's were half decent last year I thought, but now they've been upped in quality even more.

-One on ones are harder. Or so it seems. I've been one one one with the keeper only once, right of the penalty spot. Before you could just knock it past the keeper for an easy goal. Now it seems they've taken into account the angle you're shooting from, as my shot, even though I didn't push the shoot button too hard, went high and wide of the post, which brings me on to the next point...

-Remember last year when keepers would just stand there when you ballooned a shot wide of the post, almost as if they had no clue what they were doing? Well now, in the two instances I've seen, keepers do tend to dive (new animations, too) for the ball even when it's going wide of the post. They probably won't do it all the time, but in the few occasions that I've hit a shot wide of the post, the keeper seemed to cover the shot.

-I hope I'm right on this, but goals do seem like they'll be harder to come by this year. I'll post again later if there's any big mistakes made by the goalkeepers, but up to now, nothing in open play that suggests they're shit like last year.

-----

I'll probably add more later, but if you haven't played it yet and have anything to ask about anything else, let me know and I'll respond ASAP.

One thing I do know for a fact though, is that if you enjoyed previous PES games, you'll definitely like this one. It has the potential to be the best one ever.

[DavidMarrio]

Demo's normally have wrong squads though so they'll just do little fixes like getting correct players on teams before release. Even if they don't than they mentioned in an interview i think on IGN that there will be transfer updates

Waiting for download now

[ZJ Penn]

Perhaps the question that needs answering.

What's the soundtrack like? Because I can't take another year like last time.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Does the opposing team still make wonderful magic passes when clearing the ball? For instance, a defender clears the ball on their own penalty area, it covers almost the whole field and magically falls perfectly at the feet of their forward player?

[Crybaby Bunting]

Perhaps the question that needs answering.

What's the soundtrack like? Because I can't take another year like last time.

The only song I heard was a pretty decent grungy song that sounded a lot like Placebo. It's an improvement over last season I guess because I can see myself tracking down these artists.

Does the opposing team still make wonderful magic passes when clearing the ball? For instance, a defender clears the ball on their own penalty area, it covers almost the whole field and magically falls perfectly at the feet of their forward player?

Van Der Sar managed to hoof the ball 2/3 of the way down the pitch mere seconds after making a two handed dive, Ferdinand managed to do that too but at least with both of these you could see how much effort the player was trying to clear the ball away. I think it's 08 where it'd be pretty much the same animation as a cross only with the ball going rediculous distances, yet with this you can see Ferdinand and Van Der Sar doing huge volleying strikes.

I've just played the demo 3 times since I last commented and I may just be counting down the seconds, I've had a dodgy game against United yet PERFECT games against Italy and France, the goals I scored had no chance of missing and even the dodgy goals were stunning to look at,

Oh and there's a hell of a lot of satisfaction when the ball actually goes in, I can't really describe it but it's something I noticed with PES6 that there'd just be a moment once the ball went in that made it seem like watching your favorite team scoring the winner in injury time, somehow that was missing in the 08 demo and game and I have no idea why. Maybe it's the streamers that pop up when you score or the unpredictable nature of what the player is going to react like (as opposed to celebrating as soon as the ball crossed the line) or the satisfying clunk of the ball hitting the post and in.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Damn it feels good to play this game. I think I have to give the SLIGHTEST of edges to FIFA 09, but I'm glad that we've got two really solid games again. PES 2009 feels like a next-gen PES6, which has me very excited, because I played the shit out of PES6. One thing I will definitely give to the PES team over FIFA is long shots. It's always incredibly satisfying to hit a long shot goal in PES, and 2009 does it well. I've been rather unsuccessful at that when it comes to FIFA. I may need to further acquiant myself with the shooting power in FIFA, though.

None the less, two solid games? Huzzah. I don't think I'll be able to get either for release day, but Christmas? Sure.

If I get a new desktop any time soon, dear God I cannot wait for a modded PES 2009.